Disaster averted in Milford from I-95 fire

Frank Juliano

Updated 9:35 pm, Thursday, November 1, 2012

A ruptured gas main caught fire Thursday afternoon, damaging a bridge over Interstate 95 and causing a traffic nightmare for motorists. The fire started when an electrical and telephone line snapped off a utility pole and fell onto I-95. The sparking wires then ignited brush near the High Street bridge near Exit 39A. Firefighters were able to control the blaze and prevented the gas line from exploding.
Photo: Connecticut Post

A ruptured gas main caught fire Thursday afternoon, damaging a...

A ruptured gas main caught fire Thursday afternoon, damaging a bridge over Interstate 95 and causing a traffic nightmare for motorists. The fire started when an electrical and telephone line snapped off a utility pole and fell onto I-95. The sparking wires then ignited brush near the High Street bridge near Exit 39A. Firefighters were able to control the blaze and prevented the gas line from exploding.
Photo: Connecticut Post

MILFORD -- A ruptured gas main caught fire Thursday afternoon, damaging a bridge over Interstate 95 and causing a traffic nightmare for drivers.

The fire started when an electrical wire and a telephone line snapped off a utility pole and fell onto I-95. The sparking wires then ignited brush near the High Street bridge.

A 12-inch gas line underneath the bridge ruptured, causing the gas to ignite. Although there was no explosion, flames shot from the ruptured line.

Capt. Tom Thornberg, fire department spokesman, said there was concern the line would explode. Firefighters, however, were able to control the blaze and allow the gas to burn off from the line.

Crews from the Southern Connecticut Gas Co. and United Illuminating were on the scene, as well as state Department of Transportation engineers. The concern was that, with the bridge deck over High Street being heated from underneath, the structural integrity of the structure could be compromised,.

Firefighters at first were hampered in getting enough water to the blaze, with hydrants on Wilson Street and White Oak Terrace not able to supply the needed pressure. Lines were brought in from other points so that a concentrated stream, could be kept on the underside of the bridge.

"We didn't want what happened in Bridgeport a few years ago, where the deck burned right through, to happen here," the fire department spokesman said.

The incident began shortly after noon, and for more than an hour I-95 was closed in both directions. Northbound traffic was routed off the highway onto Route 1 at Exit 39A. The southbound side was closed at Exit 37.

The Merritt Parkway northbound was backed up to the Stratford side of the Sikorsky Memorial Bridge, and the Daniel S. Wasson Connector, which feeds into I-95 in both directions, was at a virtual standstill for a time.